Futures Suggest Negative Bias For Wall Street At Opening

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might slide at opening. Housing Starts data might be the focus of the day.

Asian shares finished higher, while European shares are trading mostly higher.As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were losing 7.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 3.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 11.50 points.

U.S. Stocks closed higher on Tuesday. The Dow climbed 184.84 points or 0.7 percent to 26,246.96, the Nasdaq advanced 60.32 points or 0.8 percent to 7,956.11 and the S&P 500 rose 15.51 points or 0.5 percent to 2,904.31.

On the economic front, Housing Starts data for August will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 1.240 million versus 1.168 million a month ago.

The Commerce Department’s Current Account data for the second quarter will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $104.0 billion, compared to deficit of $124.1 billion.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status Report for the week will be issued at 10.30 am ET. In the previous week, the crude oil inventories were down 5.3 barrels and gasoline were 1.3 million barrels.

Australian markets closed higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 28.50 points or 0.46 percent to 6,190 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 27.50 points or 0.44 percent at 6,297.

European shares are trading mostly higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is adding 11.48 points or 0.21 percent. The German DAX is up 20.50 points or 0.17 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is progressing 18.21 points or 0.25 percent. The Swiss Market Index is climbing 3.82 points or 0.04 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.58 percent.